Yesterday, a handful of students sat down at a roundtable discussion with Brendan Mackey, Professor of environmental science at the Australian National University.
We first discussed what drew us toward the MSE. “The degree is incredibly flexible,” said one student, “and I can see how this can turn into a career I’m passionate about.” The students present agreed that the MSE emphasized teamwork and inter-disciplinary research, and that this is very helpful in understanding the environment.
We touched on several different subjects, and Mackey described some of his own research and some of his ideas on how classes should be taught. His interests include the “policy instruments” available for environmental policy, especially those that have influence on a national level, like environmental agreements. For example, the EU’s 20-20-20 target is important, said Mackay, because “it’s a lever. What you need now is for people to pull the lever. If the lever’s not there, there will be nothing to pull.” The key, said Mackey, is to initiate constructive policies that deal with environmental problems.
“There’s very little that environmental decisions have to do with economic policy,” he added, stressing that “most policies aren’t made according to costs and benefit.” Environmental issues are still very much ideological and cultural issues, and these often aren’t very well thought out. As in the case of the recent Australian floods, even NGOs exploit disasters for their own agenda. “We can pretend, like economists, that we’re acting rationally, but we’re not.”
Jonathan Glencross, a student at the MSE and an active member of the McGill community, said he was especially interested in social environmental change and how that can be brought about on a university campus. This led us to discuss the importance of the university in social change. While academics do “have a limited role to play [in policy] … the university can provide a safe space to say what needs to be said and [it] can legitimize the conversation.”
Near the end, Mackey stressed the importance of alternative ways of teaching, especially considering what the internet can provide. The lecture format, to him, is outdated and doesn’t help students learn as well as other methods could.
Aaron Vansintjan